


You become the things you watch

by equals_eleven_thirds



Category: The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Genre: (most of them), Apocalypse, Basira gets lots of fear powers but is too damn cool to use them, Gen, POV Outsider, Transformation, post-160
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-28
Updated: 2019-12-28
Packaged: 2021-02-26 03:07:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 517
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21996496
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/equals_eleven_thirds/pseuds/equals_eleven_thirds
Summary: In a ruined world, people speak of a woman-monster-god.
Comments: 10
Kudos: 68





	You become the things you watch

There is a woman walking the world. She might be a monster. She might be a god. She might just be a human who has lived through too much _( **seen** too much, but we don’t say things like that anymore)_. Whatever she is, she is dangerous, she is powerful, she could save you, she could kill you. She will ask you questions. _Answer her questions._

Here, they say, are the signs of her:

If she were to get angry, her hands would burn. Not her hands entire, like some of the other monsters who would burn and blacken and boil you as soon as touch you; just her fingertips. Ten flames, kindling to hurt and destroy and desolate.

She will take a breath, and hold it, and shake your hand. Her fingers will be cool against yours.

If she were to scream, darkness would surround her. Thick, choking blackness would spill from her throat, the roar and the dark filling the air, filling your head, making you blind.

She will speak quietly, calmly, and you hear her words clearly. She will ask, and you will see.

If she were to dance, you would not know her. A few steps of a waltz, a single spin, and she would become _strange_ and _a stranger_ , and calliope music would echo in your ears.

She will walk, steps purposeful and without music. She will keep moving through the places no one can understand, for no place is forever.

If she were to stand before a mirror, her reflection would distort. In the glass, her limbs would twist, her fingers stretch, until she would be all long, spindly spirals. Her reflection would smile at her, and it would be familiar, friendly. Fractal.

She will avoid mirrors. Especially on doors. She will tell you only the truth, however much you wish she lied.

If she were to look at you, she would read your soul like words on a page. Her eyes would sift through you like an index, searching your knowledge for the information she wants. She would pull you apart with a steady stare, and she would not need questions then.

She will meet your eyes for a fraction of a second before averting her gaze. She will close her own eyes, and you will feel less _seen_ than before, even with the sky above you.

If she were to smile, her teeth would be just slightly too sharp. There would be no other sign, no claws, no snarl, no voracious need for the hunt. Her smile would have a hint of someone else, someone she is looking for, someone who used to smile at her like that. She is not the hunter, but she will find the hunter.

When you tell her what you know about that person, she will smile at you.

…

(If she were to point her gun at you, death would wait in its barrel. But that’s no different than most other guns, or most other things in this world, in this now. And she won’t shoot you—after all, you answered her questions. Didn’t you?)

**Author's Note:**

> I just wanted Basira with fear powers! That's all!
> 
> There were a few fears she was touched by but I couldn't work into the fic, so just assume no one's seen her use them. Or haven't survived to tell the tale.
> 
> (if you want my ideas about those fears I did post about it on my tumblr: https://equalseleventhirds.tumblr.com/post/189805754608/you-become-the-things-you-watch)


End file.
